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August 26, 2021
https://www.thelocal.se/20210826/sweden-extends-non-eu-entry-ban-until-october/
The entry ban was previously set to expire on August 31st, but the government on Thursday extended it until October 31st. The ban has been in place since March last year, and was introduced in line with EU recommendations at the time to curb the spread of coronavirus across the union. There are however several exemptions to the ban, including if you live in Sweden or the EU, if you’re travelling for certain purposes such as urgent family reasons and vital work, or if you’re travelling from certain low-infection countries which are decided at the EU level. There are also exemptions for athletes and esports players taking part in elite competitions.
People from EU countries, as well as the following non-EU/EEA countries, are exempt from the entry ban: Albania, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Canada, Kosovo, Lebanon, Macao, Moldova, North Macedonia, New Zeeland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Ukraine or the United States of America.
You must also show a negative Covid-19 test, unless you fall into a category that is exempt from this too (this includes Swedish citizens and residents, and you can find a full list on the Police Authority’s website), if you are travelling from a non-EU country. If you are travelling from an EU country, you can alternatively show proof that you have been vaccinated against Covid-19, or recovered from it in the past six months. If you are travelling from one of the Nordic countries – Denmark, Norway, Finland or Iceland – you can enter Sweden freely for any reason and you don’t have to present a negative Covid-19 test.
In addition to the entry ban, Sweden also has a set of test-and-isolate recommendations in place for people travelling to Sweden. You can read more about those on the Public Health Agency’s website. Sweden on Thursday also extended its advisory against non-essential travel from Sweden until October 15th. All EU countries as well as the UK, EEA and Schengen are exempt from the advisory, as are the following countries: Albania, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brunei, Canada, Hong Kong, Israel, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Macao, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and the USA.
snip
Sweden extends non-EU entry ban until October
Sweden has again extended its entry ban on travel from non-EU/EEA countries.https://www.thelocal.se/20210826/sweden-extends-non-eu-entry-ban-until-october/
The entry ban was previously set to expire on August 31st, but the government on Thursday extended it until October 31st. The ban has been in place since March last year, and was introduced in line with EU recommendations at the time to curb the spread of coronavirus across the union. There are however several exemptions to the ban, including if you live in Sweden or the EU, if you’re travelling for certain purposes such as urgent family reasons and vital work, or if you’re travelling from certain low-infection countries which are decided at the EU level. There are also exemptions for athletes and esports players taking part in elite competitions.
People from EU countries, as well as the following non-EU/EEA countries, are exempt from the entry ban: Albania, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Canada, Kosovo, Lebanon, Macao, Moldova, North Macedonia, New Zeeland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Ukraine or the United States of America.
You must also show a negative Covid-19 test, unless you fall into a category that is exempt from this too (this includes Swedish citizens and residents, and you can find a full list on the Police Authority’s website), if you are travelling from a non-EU country. If you are travelling from an EU country, you can alternatively show proof that you have been vaccinated against Covid-19, or recovered from it in the past six months. If you are travelling from one of the Nordic countries – Denmark, Norway, Finland or Iceland – you can enter Sweden freely for any reason and you don’t have to present a negative Covid-19 test.
In addition to the entry ban, Sweden also has a set of test-and-isolate recommendations in place for people travelling to Sweden. You can read more about those on the Public Health Agency’s website. Sweden on Thursday also extended its advisory against non-essential travel from Sweden until October 15th. All EU countries as well as the UK, EEA and Schengen are exempt from the advisory, as are the following countries: Albania, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brunei, Canada, Hong Kong, Israel, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Macao, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and the USA.
snip
August 26, 2021
Thai architect Kuanchanok Pakavaleetorn has built her own family home in Bangkok, with a design that prioritises privacy and airflow.
Pakavaleetorn, founder of Kuanchanok Pakavaleetorn Architects, designed 55 Sathorn to make the best of its busy and polluted urban setting.
The four-storey-high building is arranged around a large atrium, allowing windows to face inwards rather than outwards. The facade also incorporates sliced openings, strategically placed to encourage the breeze to flow through the building. "The location is in the very centre of Bangkok; the noise level is very high, and the traffic flow of people and cars is a safety and security concern," explained Pakavaleetorn.
"So I designed the house to take a defensive fortress-like posture," she told Dezeen. The building is primarily constructed from concrete masonry, which integrates a mix of rectilinear and curving elements. This means that some parts have a more solid aesthetic, while others take the form of smooth ribbons.
There are three main openings into this massing: one that slices though the south elevation before cutting round to the west, one that wraps the southeast corner, and one within the roof. There's also a narrow vertical slit concealed within the eastern facade.
Although they appear to be design flourishes, each opening is there for a reason, according to Pakavaleetorn. "The large openings are positioned precisely to maximise wind flow," she said, "and they frame specific viewing angles." Large windows positioned within the atrium line up with the openings, to ensure that plenty of natural light can reach the interior.
The layout of the 460-square-metre building is generated by the atrium – most floors contain two main rooms, one on each side. The ground floor contains a home office and gym, while the living room and kitchen are located on the first floor. There are then three bedrooms, located on the second and third floors, and a secluded roof terrace.
The concrete surfaces are visible inside the house, but have been treated with a textured coating. They are combined with a palette that includes natural wood veneers, stone tiling and various shades of grey. Other details include black aluminium windows, a mezzanine library accessed via a spiral staircase, and a kitchen with an entire wall of storage.
Kuanchanok Pakavaleetorn creates inward-facing family home in Bangkok
https://www.dezeen.com/2021/08/21/55-sathorn-house-bangkok-kuanchanok-pakavaleetorn-architects/Thai architect Kuanchanok Pakavaleetorn has built her own family home in Bangkok, with a design that prioritises privacy and airflow.
Pakavaleetorn, founder of Kuanchanok Pakavaleetorn Architects, designed 55 Sathorn to make the best of its busy and polluted urban setting.
The four-storey-high building is arranged around a large atrium, allowing windows to face inwards rather than outwards. The facade also incorporates sliced openings, strategically placed to encourage the breeze to flow through the building. "The location is in the very centre of Bangkok; the noise level is very high, and the traffic flow of people and cars is a safety and security concern," explained Pakavaleetorn.
"So I designed the house to take a defensive fortress-like posture," she told Dezeen. The building is primarily constructed from concrete masonry, which integrates a mix of rectilinear and curving elements. This means that some parts have a more solid aesthetic, while others take the form of smooth ribbons.
There are three main openings into this massing: one that slices though the south elevation before cutting round to the west, one that wraps the southeast corner, and one within the roof. There's also a narrow vertical slit concealed within the eastern facade.
Although they appear to be design flourishes, each opening is there for a reason, according to Pakavaleetorn. "The large openings are positioned precisely to maximise wind flow," she said, "and they frame specific viewing angles." Large windows positioned within the atrium line up with the openings, to ensure that plenty of natural light can reach the interior.
The layout of the 460-square-metre building is generated by the atrium – most floors contain two main rooms, one on each side. The ground floor contains a home office and gym, while the living room and kitchen are located on the first floor. There are then three bedrooms, located on the second and third floors, and a secluded roof terrace.
The concrete surfaces are visible inside the house, but have been treated with a textured coating. They are combined with a palette that includes natural wood veneers, stone tiling and various shades of grey. Other details include black aluminium windows, a mezzanine library accessed via a spiral staircase, and a kitchen with an entire wall of storage.
August 26, 2021
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/08/coronavirus-evolution-vaccines/619875/
If evolution is a numbers game, the coronavirus is especially good at playing it. Over the past year and a half, it’s copied itself quickly and sloppily in hundreds of millions of hosts, and hit upon a glut of genetic jackpots that further facilitate its spread. Delta, the hyper-contagious variant that has swept the globe in recent months, is undoubtedly one of the virus’s most daring moves to date. This variant is the product of unfettered transmission, and will thrive further on it; if allowed to, Delta could morph into something even more formidable. “Delta is already a really strong competitor,” Michal Tal, an immunologist at Stanford University, told me. “It could get significantly worse.”
We can’t precisely predict what worse will look like. There is no playbook for evolution. Delta could continue to ratchet up its rate of spread, or it could be ousted by another super-infectious variant. But the speed that has powered Delta’s transmission for months probably can’t sustain SARS-CoV-2 forever, at least not on its own. Humanity’s collective immunity to the virus is growing, which means the next variants we encounter might be better off taking a tack that relies a lot more on stealth. “There’s some sort of tipping point where immune evasion becomes a bigger fitness advantage than transmission,” Stephen Goldstein, an evolutionary virologist at the University of Utah, told me. No one yet knows exactly where that tipping point is—just that we will probably, eventually, collide with it.
This transition will mark a new stage in our extended parlay with SARS-CoV-2. Viruses depend intimately on their hosts—and the global population no longer looks or acts as it did when this one was a fresh threat. A large fraction of us, especially in vaccine-wealthy countries such as the United States, now have some degree of immunity, simultaneously suppressing the pathogen’s ability to pass among us and pressuring it to circumvent those shields. Our defenses are upping the ante for the virus. And the virus will likely rise to meet it. The cyclical nature of this game might sound disheartening. But nothing will ever put us back at square one. Even as the virus evolves away from us, we can give chase. As immunity builds, our dalliances with the virus will trend milder, shorter, and less frequent. With vaccination on our side, we’re giving the virus fewer turns at the board, and slowing the pace at which the game is played. Although we can’t yet trounce SARS-CoV-2 for good, we can buy ourselves time to make our next decisive move.
In broad strokes, the rules of evolutionary play are simple enough. Researchers still aren’t sure where, or in whom, most variants arise, but they’re clearly more likely to sprout when the coronavirus is allowed to stick around and make more and more of itself, whether in an individual person or in a whole population. Mutations happen like typos during a virus’s messy replication; the majority are inconsequential, even detrimental to the pathogen. But scattered among these genetic glitches will be the occasional windfall, a mistake that helps one version of the virus outcompete its kin. Those proportionally rare events become more absolutely common when given more opportunities to occur. “The longer the virus persists, the more opportunities it’ll have to sample what makes it more fit,” Oliver Fregoso, a virologist at UCLA, told me.
snip
The Coronavirus Could Get Worse
Delta is far from the last variant. But what shape the virus takes next depends on us.https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/08/coronavirus-evolution-vaccines/619875/
If evolution is a numbers game, the coronavirus is especially good at playing it. Over the past year and a half, it’s copied itself quickly and sloppily in hundreds of millions of hosts, and hit upon a glut of genetic jackpots that further facilitate its spread. Delta, the hyper-contagious variant that has swept the globe in recent months, is undoubtedly one of the virus’s most daring moves to date. This variant is the product of unfettered transmission, and will thrive further on it; if allowed to, Delta could morph into something even more formidable. “Delta is already a really strong competitor,” Michal Tal, an immunologist at Stanford University, told me. “It could get significantly worse.”
We can’t precisely predict what worse will look like. There is no playbook for evolution. Delta could continue to ratchet up its rate of spread, or it could be ousted by another super-infectious variant. But the speed that has powered Delta’s transmission for months probably can’t sustain SARS-CoV-2 forever, at least not on its own. Humanity’s collective immunity to the virus is growing, which means the next variants we encounter might be better off taking a tack that relies a lot more on stealth. “There’s some sort of tipping point where immune evasion becomes a bigger fitness advantage than transmission,” Stephen Goldstein, an evolutionary virologist at the University of Utah, told me. No one yet knows exactly where that tipping point is—just that we will probably, eventually, collide with it.
This transition will mark a new stage in our extended parlay with SARS-CoV-2. Viruses depend intimately on their hosts—and the global population no longer looks or acts as it did when this one was a fresh threat. A large fraction of us, especially in vaccine-wealthy countries such as the United States, now have some degree of immunity, simultaneously suppressing the pathogen’s ability to pass among us and pressuring it to circumvent those shields. Our defenses are upping the ante for the virus. And the virus will likely rise to meet it. The cyclical nature of this game might sound disheartening. But nothing will ever put us back at square one. Even as the virus evolves away from us, we can give chase. As immunity builds, our dalliances with the virus will trend milder, shorter, and less frequent. With vaccination on our side, we’re giving the virus fewer turns at the board, and slowing the pace at which the game is played. Although we can’t yet trounce SARS-CoV-2 for good, we can buy ourselves time to make our next decisive move.
In broad strokes, the rules of evolutionary play are simple enough. Researchers still aren’t sure where, or in whom, most variants arise, but they’re clearly more likely to sprout when the coronavirus is allowed to stick around and make more and more of itself, whether in an individual person or in a whole population. Mutations happen like typos during a virus’s messy replication; the majority are inconsequential, even detrimental to the pathogen. But scattered among these genetic glitches will be the occasional windfall, a mistake that helps one version of the virus outcompete its kin. Those proportionally rare events become more absolutely common when given more opportunities to occur. “The longer the virus persists, the more opportunities it’ll have to sample what makes it more fit,” Oliver Fregoso, a virologist at UCLA, told me.
snip
August 26, 2021
https://thebanter.substack.com/p/the-colossal-ivermectin-clusterfk
Anti-vaxxers, MAGA supporters, and wellness influencers share one thing in common: a deeply held belief that something is awry with Covid-19. The views in these communities range from the absurd (Covid isn’t real/vaccines have microchips, etc) to the mildly conspiratorial (Covid isn’t that bad/the vaccines don’t work and so on.) I happen to know people from all of these communities and have had to make the difficult decision to cut many of them out of my life. The militant anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers were first to go, followed by those attacking public health officials and frontline medical workers. Covid-19 didn’t turn these people into irresponsible narcissists, it just revealed their true colours. There are however other communities questioning the origins of Covid, the efficacy of the vaccines, and promoting alternative cures that are far more sophisticated and intelligent. They believe there is a “mainstream narrative” about Covid, and a far murkier truth that is actively being suppressed by the government in collusion with Big Pharma and the media. This community in particular is spreading a new fake “cure” for Covid that has taken off at an alarming speed, helped in part by social media companies that have tried to censor it. Welcome to the Ivermectin Clusterfuck.
Conspiracy adjacent
The narrative being spread in what could be called “conspiracy adjacent” communities goes something like this: Covid-19 is a lab created virus that broke out in a US funded lab in Wuhan. The media and the government have worked in tandem to suppress this information. Vaccines are far more dangerous than the government wants you to think, and there are also several effective cures for Covid that Big Pharma that the government/Big Pharma don’t want you to know about because it will negatively impact them financially. The more I have delved into this alternative narrative and the accompanying evidence, the more important I think it is to engage with it. Why? Because many of the quack cures and disinformation spreading online aren’t necessarily coming from the insane fringes of conspiracy land. They are coming from the less crazy conspiracy theorists who are promoting a narrative backed by seemingly credible science and reputable sources. There is a long list of scam cures that have been touted by conspiracy theorists as a treatment for Covid-19. From ingesting bleach to “homeopathic immunization pellets” and hydroxychloroquine, the internet is awash with bogus information on effective “cures” for Covid. The problem is, some of these treatments have more credibility than others, leading to more confusion as they infiltrate the public’s consciousness via our social media feeds. The tech companies are then left to determine what is and isn’t legitimate, leading to unnecessary censorship that helps fuel more conspiracy theories.
Horse dewormer to the rescue!
What is Ivermectin and does it work?
Ivermectin is an approved drug by the World Health Organization and the US Food and Drug Administration. It is primarily used as a dewormer for horses, but in much lower doses can be used to treat people with intestinal strongyloidiasis and onchocerciasis (conditions that are caused by parasitic worms), and to a lesser extent topically for head lice and rosacea. Ivermectin has also been widely used in several countries to treat Covid-19. In countries like Malaysia where the vaccines are hard to come by, Ivermectin is sold by pharmacists and online as a cure for Covid. Proponents of Ivermectin believe it has profound effects on Covid patients, and can even prevent people from getting it. These beliefs appear to be based on early studies that showed promise for the drug, and a great deal of disinformation. Reports Vice:
snip
Misleading posts touting ivermectin as Covid-19 treatment distort results of preliminary Australian study
https://factcheck.afp.com/http%253A%252F%252Fdoc.afp.com%252F9DG443-1
What to know about a pro-ivermectin group’s study touting the drug versus COVID-19
https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/jun/30/what-know-about-pro-ivermectin-groups-study-toutin/
The Colossal Ivermectin Clusterfuck
How social media companies helped Anti-vaxxers and Right Wingers promote a horse de wormer as a treatment for Covid.https://thebanter.substack.com/p/the-colossal-ivermectin-clusterfk
Anti-vaxxers, MAGA supporters, and wellness influencers share one thing in common: a deeply held belief that something is awry with Covid-19. The views in these communities range from the absurd (Covid isn’t real/vaccines have microchips, etc) to the mildly conspiratorial (Covid isn’t that bad/the vaccines don’t work and so on.) I happen to know people from all of these communities and have had to make the difficult decision to cut many of them out of my life. The militant anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers were first to go, followed by those attacking public health officials and frontline medical workers. Covid-19 didn’t turn these people into irresponsible narcissists, it just revealed their true colours. There are however other communities questioning the origins of Covid, the efficacy of the vaccines, and promoting alternative cures that are far more sophisticated and intelligent. They believe there is a “mainstream narrative” about Covid, and a far murkier truth that is actively being suppressed by the government in collusion with Big Pharma and the media. This community in particular is spreading a new fake “cure” for Covid that has taken off at an alarming speed, helped in part by social media companies that have tried to censor it. Welcome to the Ivermectin Clusterfuck.
Conspiracy adjacent
The narrative being spread in what could be called “conspiracy adjacent” communities goes something like this: Covid-19 is a lab created virus that broke out in a US funded lab in Wuhan. The media and the government have worked in tandem to suppress this information. Vaccines are far more dangerous than the government wants you to think, and there are also several effective cures for Covid that Big Pharma that the government/Big Pharma don’t want you to know about because it will negatively impact them financially. The more I have delved into this alternative narrative and the accompanying evidence, the more important I think it is to engage with it. Why? Because many of the quack cures and disinformation spreading online aren’t necessarily coming from the insane fringes of conspiracy land. They are coming from the less crazy conspiracy theorists who are promoting a narrative backed by seemingly credible science and reputable sources. There is a long list of scam cures that have been touted by conspiracy theorists as a treatment for Covid-19. From ingesting bleach to “homeopathic immunization pellets” and hydroxychloroquine, the internet is awash with bogus information on effective “cures” for Covid. The problem is, some of these treatments have more credibility than others, leading to more confusion as they infiltrate the public’s consciousness via our social media feeds. The tech companies are then left to determine what is and isn’t legitimate, leading to unnecessary censorship that helps fuel more conspiracy theories.
Horse dewormer to the rescue!
One apparent cure for Covid being touted by Anti-vaxxers and Right is a drug named ‘Ivermectin’, an anti-parasitic used to treat horses for worm infections. The major proponent of Ivermectin is an evolutionary biologist and podcaster named Bret Weinstein. Weinstein has claimed that Covid vaccines are unsafe and that Ivermectin is close to “100% effective at stopping you catching Covid.” As investigative journalist David Fuller writes:
Weinstein is an interesting character with impeccable credentials so his claims are worth taking seriously. Is Ivermectin effective against Covid? Does it, as Weinstein ally Tucker Carlson suggested, “moot the usage of and potentially the ability to administer the U.S. coronavirus vaccines currently active under the Food & Drug Administration's Emergency Use Authorization”? Is there a grand conspiracy to censor it? This is worth examining more closely.
Weinstein is an interesting character with impeccable credentials so his claims are worth taking seriously. Is Ivermectin effective against Covid? Does it, as Weinstein ally Tucker Carlson suggested, “moot the usage of and potentially the ability to administer the U.S. coronavirus vaccines currently active under the Food & Drug Administration's Emergency Use Authorization”? Is there a grand conspiracy to censor it? This is worth examining more closely.
What is Ivermectin and does it work?
Ivermectin is an approved drug by the World Health Organization and the US Food and Drug Administration. It is primarily used as a dewormer for horses, but in much lower doses can be used to treat people with intestinal strongyloidiasis and onchocerciasis (conditions that are caused by parasitic worms), and to a lesser extent topically for head lice and rosacea. Ivermectin has also been widely used in several countries to treat Covid-19. In countries like Malaysia where the vaccines are hard to come by, Ivermectin is sold by pharmacists and online as a cure for Covid. Proponents of Ivermectin believe it has profound effects on Covid patients, and can even prevent people from getting it. These beliefs appear to be based on early studies that showed promise for the drug, and a great deal of disinformation. Reports Vice:
snip
Misleading posts touting ivermectin as Covid-19 treatment distort results of preliminary Australian study
https://factcheck.afp.com/http%253A%252F%252Fdoc.afp.com%252F9DG443-1
What to know about a pro-ivermectin group’s study touting the drug versus COVID-19
https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/jun/30/what-know-about-pro-ivermectin-groups-study-toutin/
Another meta-analysis, published June 28, arrived at an opposite conclusion.
That study was led by a University of Connecticut researcher and appeared in the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, a publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. It found that in comparison to standard of care or placebo, ivermectin "did not reduce all-cause mortality." The study concluded saying that the drug "is not a viable option to treat COVID-19 patients."
That study was led by a University of Connecticut researcher and appeared in the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, a publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. It found that in comparison to standard of care or placebo, ivermectin "did not reduce all-cause mortality." The study concluded saying that the drug "is not a viable option to treat COVID-19 patients."
August 26, 2021
Watch
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/national-international/pelosi-warns-u-s-representatives-to-stay-out-of-afghanistan-after-two-members-make-unauthorized-visit/2938095/
https://twitter.com/NBCPhiladelphia/status/1430590620251443203
Speaker Nancy Pelosi rebuked Reps. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) and Peter Meijer (R-Mich.) after the pair
made an unauthorized visit to Kabul to oversee evacuation efforts, saying she is ‘deadly serious’ about members staying out of Afghanistan.Watch
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/national-international/pelosi-warns-u-s-representatives-to-stay-out-of-afghanistan-after-two-members-make-unauthorized-visit/2938095/
https://twitter.com/NBCPhiladelphia/status/1430590620251443203
August 25, 2021
that is £827K ($1.136 million) gross spend per week just in salary
so the total cost over 5 years
assuming a £150m transfer fee and around £50m total in bribes to that bellend Mino and daddy Håland
would be............ £415m ($570m)
£440m ($605m) if a £175m transfer fee
and Mino demanded an escape hatch clause after 3-4 (never could nail down whether is was 3 or 4, but knowing Mino it was 3) years with a set percentage above our buy price that would determine the max we could sell Håland for (so kind of a modified release clause amount)!
thank fuck we said NO
Holy hell, no wonder we (Chelsea) said NO to buying Haaland and went for Lukaku
https://twitter.com/cfbayern/status/1430395086286823424that is £827K ($1.136 million) gross spend per week just in salary
so the total cost over 5 years
assuming a £150m transfer fee and around £50m total in bribes to that bellend Mino and daddy Håland
would be............ £415m ($570m)
£440m ($605m) if a £175m transfer fee
and Mino demanded an escape hatch clause after 3-4 (never could nail down whether is was 3 or 4, but knowing Mino it was 3) years with a set percentage above our buy price that would determine the max we could sell Håland for (so kind of a modified release clause amount)!
thank fuck we said NO
August 25, 2021
'I don't trust the CDC': Trump rally attendee on why she's unvaccinated (slack-jaw death cult alert)
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/business/2021/08/24/donie-osullivan-trump-supporters-ac360-biz-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/coronavirus/
August 25, 2021
https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/mediaservices/mediareleases/news/026c-13136046f760-4b714dbbd900-1000--copenhagen-heroes-to-receive-uefa-president-s-award/
Denmark captain Simon Kjaer and the medical team that saved Christian Eriksen's life
will receive the 2021 UEFA President’s Awardhttps://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/mediaservices/mediareleases/news/026c-13136046f760-4b714dbbd900-1000--copenhagen-heroes-to-receive-uefa-president-s-award/
August 24, 2021
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/08/becky-pringle-nea-vaccine-mandates/619836/
Nearly 90 percent of members of the National Education Association, America’s largest teachers’ union, self-reported in a recent survey that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19. But that still leaves a lot of unvaccinated teachers and school support staff; the union has roughly 3 million members. Becky Pringle, the NEA’s president, has strongly encouraged vaccination, but she told me that regular testing should be available as an alternative to legal mandates: “We have to make sure that school districts work with educators to address accommodations that need to be made.” Right as the school year gets under way, the Delta variant is putting kids at greater risk of contracting COVID-19 than at any previous point in the pandemic, although they are still at significantly lower risk of serious disease than unvaccinated adults.
Yet hundreds of parents showed up to a school-board meeting in Tennessee’s Williamson County to debate a mask mandate for elementary-school students. And many students will never show up for school at all: Rates of homeschooling are on the rise, and kindergarten enrollment rates plummeted last year. Pringle took the helm at the NEA last September, when many teachers weren’t sure whether they would physically return to their classrooms at all. Right now, the union is advocating students’ return to classrooms for full-time, in-person instruction this fall, but Pringle refused to rule out calling for hybrid or remote learning if coronavirus cases continue to rise. Even with all the uncertainty ahead, Pringle is committed to her belief that America’s public-education system requires radical transformation to become more racially and socially equitable. That mission seemed lofty when she started a year ago. But after 18 months of the pandemic, the goal of creating decent, safe schools for all kids in America seems even more out of reach.
Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.
snip
Why America's Largest Teachers' Union Refuses to Support Vaccine Mandates
Becky Pringle, the president of the National Education Association, won’t back a blanket vaccination requirement yet—but she thinks there are other ways to ensure that students and teachers are safe.https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/08/becky-pringle-nea-vaccine-mandates/619836/
Nearly 90 percent of members of the National Education Association, America’s largest teachers’ union, self-reported in a recent survey that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19. But that still leaves a lot of unvaccinated teachers and school support staff; the union has roughly 3 million members. Becky Pringle, the NEA’s president, has strongly encouraged vaccination, but she told me that regular testing should be available as an alternative to legal mandates: “We have to make sure that school districts work with educators to address accommodations that need to be made.” Right as the school year gets under way, the Delta variant is putting kids at greater risk of contracting COVID-19 than at any previous point in the pandemic, although they are still at significantly lower risk of serious disease than unvaccinated adults.
Yet hundreds of parents showed up to a school-board meeting in Tennessee’s Williamson County to debate a mask mandate for elementary-school students. And many students will never show up for school at all: Rates of homeschooling are on the rise, and kindergarten enrollment rates plummeted last year. Pringle took the helm at the NEA last September, when many teachers weren’t sure whether they would physically return to their classrooms at all. Right now, the union is advocating students’ return to classrooms for full-time, in-person instruction this fall, but Pringle refused to rule out calling for hybrid or remote learning if coronavirus cases continue to rise. Even with all the uncertainty ahead, Pringle is committed to her belief that America’s public-education system requires radical transformation to become more racially and socially equitable. That mission seemed lofty when she started a year ago. But after 18 months of the pandemic, the goal of creating decent, safe schools for all kids in America seems even more out of reach.
Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.
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